Circle's Test Wiki:Editor Investigation
It may be that a user has both undisclosed COI and is a sockpuppet or meatpuppet. Signs that a user has undisclosed COI #The editor is unusually focused on a person or organisation. All or most of their edits may be about the subject they have a COI with. Particularly if they are interested in a niche aspect of a person or organisation. For example, a well-known actor's time at university. #The editor may create articles about a person or organisation that does not meet Circle's Test Wiki: Criteria for Notability. For example, about a small company or a musician who has never had any singles or albums in the charts. #The editor may be unusually knowledgable about a person or organisation. For example, they may add personal information about a person, such as their date of birth or which school they attended without providing references, and other editors may struggle to find any sources which contain this information. #The editor removes critical coverage of a person or organisation without giving a good reason for this. For example, an editor may remove a section of an article about a company being successfully sued. #The editor adds significant praise or creates sections of the article devoted to praising the subject. For example, an editor may create a section entitled "list of awards Smith Ltd has received" or "praise for Patil" sections. #The editor may add criticism of a person or organisation, or create criticisms of a person or organisation article. Examples of this include adding unsubstanciated negative comments to a person's article, such as "Everyone who knows Azikawi personally knows she has a serious drink problem" or "Criticism of Jones&Davies Plc's customer service" #The editor cites sources that are not avaliable to the general public, such as staff newsletters. #The editor may become upset about the removal of praise or the addition of criticism to an article about a person. If you are under investigation If you are being investigated for having a suspected conflict of interest, review the Circle's Test Wiki:Conflict of Interest Editing policy. If you realise that you do have a conflict of interest that you have not previously disclosed, disclose it as soon as possible. Disclosing your COI during the investigation will be considered a mitigating factor when deciding how long your penalty points should last for. While the investigation is underway, you should not edit any articles where you have been accused of having a conflict of interest. You are welcome to edit any other articles. You must not communicate with anyone else who is invovled with the investigation. Outcomes Found to have conflict of interest: you will be given four penalty points. If you already have penalty points, this will mean you have five or more penalty points. Therefore, you are banned until some points have expired and you only have four points again. Found not to have a conflict of interest: you may resume editing the articles where you have been accused of having a conflict of interest. Other editors must not accuse you of having a conflict of interest without evidence in addition to that given in the investigation. HHowever, you should also be civil to editors who accused you of having COI. If more evidence that you do have COI comes avaliable, the investigation may be re-opened. You may be asked to review key policies, such as circle's Test Wiki:Point of View, Circle's Test Wiki:No Original Research or Circle's Test Wiki:Sources on Circle's Test Wiki, if the accusations were related to your editing style.